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Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

What Most People Get Wrong About Mentoring (And How to Get It Right) with Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Erik Fisher

Business, Careers, Education, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship

4.5 • 877 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I'm excited to revisit this conversation with Claire Diaz-Ortiz discussing her book, One Minute Mentoring, co-authored with legendary leadership expert Ken Blanchard. Claire is a keynote speaker, author, and former head of social innovation at Twitter who helps individuals and organizations build more intentional, meaningful connections — and this conversation is one of the most practical we've had on the show when it comes to how relationships actually help us grow.

In this conversation, we cover:

  • Mentoring vs. Everything Else: Claire breaks down how mentoring differs from coaching, consulting, masterminds, and accountability groups — and why the holistic, mutual nature of a true mentoring partnership is what sets it apart.
  • How to Find the Right Mentor: She walks through the practical first steps for identifying the type of mentoring relationship you need in this season of life, and why leading with essence over form is the key to getting it right.
  • The MENTOR Formula: Claire shares the six-step framework from the book — Mission, Engagement, Networking, Trust, Opportunity, and Review — that gives any mentoring partnership a clear structure without making it feel clinical.
  • The Mentoring Mission Statement: Why putting a simple, shared mission statement in place at the start of a mentoring relationship can save you both from the most common reason these partnerships quietly fall apart.
  • Mentoring Moments and Low-Stakes Entry Points: For anyone not ready to commit to a full mentoring relationship, Claire offers a practical way to start small — and how those smaller moments can open the door to something much more meaningful.


If you've ever wondered whether you're the type of person who should have a mentor — or whether you have what it takes to be one — this conversation will answer both questions and give you a clear next step. Learn more about Claire and her work at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com, and find One Minute Mentoring wherever books are sold.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

One thing I've learned from years of talking about productivity is that focus doesn't happen

0:04.5

automatically, but sometimes it begins with a cue. Sometimes it's something that you use to tell your

0:10.6

brain, okay, we're working now. Brain FM is that for me. Brain FM is functional music designed for

0:16.6

specific states like focus, relaxation, meditation, and sleep and more. And for work, I like to think of

0:24.2

it as a simple focus ritual. I pick the mode. I press play and then I use that at the start of a work

0:30.7

block. You can do it too. Treat it like an experiment. Go to beyond the to do list.com slash brainfm

0:36.8

and you can get 20% off to try BrainFm or go to the link in the show notes.

0:41.8

Again, you can try it and get 20% off by going to my link and supporting the show at Beyond the Todo list.com slash BrainFm.

0:51.2

Music Brain FM.

1:13.4

Hello and welcome back to beyond the to-do list, a podcast about productivity. I'm your host,

1:20.4

Eric Fisher, and this week I am excited to revisit a conversation that I had with Claire Diaz Ortiz.

1:25.8

She was one of the very first guests that I ever had. And recently, I've been thinking a lot about the two-way street that is mentoring.

1:29.2

And it brought this episode back to mind about her book, One Minute Mentoring, that she co-authored

1:34.6

with leadership expert Ken Blanchard. Claire herself is an author, a speaker, an innovation advisor,

1:41.6

and an early employee at Twitter. why this episode keeps coming back to me

1:46.2

is current life personal reasons, but also because we talk about how mentoring is different

1:52.5

from coaching, consulting, masterminds, accountability groups, all those things that you've

1:58.0

heard of before. You've heard of mentoring too, but we often

2:01.3

don't know how to find the right mentor, which we talk about in this episode, as well as deciding

2:06.6

what type of mentoring relationships you need in whatever season of life you find yourself in.

2:12.5

So if you've ever wondered if you're the type of person who should have a mentor, or if you

2:16.6

have what it takes to be one, this conversation covers both those questions and you're the type of person who should have a mentor or if you have what it takes to

...

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